Sweet Sesame Rice

Growing up I do not ever remember having sweet sesame rice.When my mother in law mentioned this dish to me some time back I wondered how it would taste but put aside the idea of making it in favor of making savory sesame rice. In rice dishes I almost always favor making savory dishes rather than sweet ones. They are so easy to pair with a vegetable side dish to make a complete meal. This weekend though I had the opportunity to try this sweet rice and we liked it a lot. Though this rice is supposed to be a side dish I thought it could very easily make for a dessert too. It had a soft and chewy fudgy quality to it.

The use of jaggery in this sweet also makes it a little more diet friendly for those that are avoiding sugar and watching calories.Jaggery is a type of sugar made out of sugarcane and is used a lot in Indian cooking. It is considered to be more wholesome than refined sugar since it retains more mineral salts.For a more detailed article on jaggery and the different names of jaggery check out this link.

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and method to make the Sweet Sesame Rice.

1/2 cup brown rice (or white rice) ( I used brown basmati rice)
6 tbsp brown sesame seeds
1 cup grated jaggery
2 tsp clarified butter (ghee)
1/4 tsp cardamom powder

Pressure cook 1/2 cup rice in 1 cup of water until soft. ( In case using the stove top to cook rice use water as needed until the rice is soft )

Dry roast brown sesame seeds until they turn a little more brown and keep aside. When cooler grind the sesame seeds into a reasonable powder, it does not have to be very fine.

In a large heavy bottomed pan place the grated jaggery with 1/4 cup water and heat.

In a cup nearby keep about 1/2 cup of cold water handy.

When the jaggery starts boiling and starts thickening take half a teaspoon of the boiling jaggery and pour into the 1/2 cup of cold water nearby, if the jaggery spreads and mixes with the water then it is not done. If the jaggery stays firm and you are able to roll the jaggery between your fingertips then it is ready.

At this point lower the heat and add the cooked rice to the jaggery mixture and mix well. Add the sesame seed powder to this.

Add clarified butter and cardamom powder to this mixture and keep stirring it on low heat.

When the entire mixture starts thickening and the sides start leaving the pan it is done. Turn off the heat and serve hot.

Serves about 2

Notes:

If you do not want to make this a milder sweet reduce the quantity of jaggery to 3/4 cup

Also do note that different types of jaggery have different levels of sweet so do use your own judgement about the level of jaggery.

On a different note Dershana , EC , Vidhya ,Vegetable Platter , Sukanya , Archy and Shreya have tagged me for the 7 facts about me meme .This tag apparently comes with some rules which I have listed below.

The rules of the tag are:
(a) List these rules on your blog.
(b) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
(c) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

So here goes...

7 facts about me

1) I have an incredible sweet tooth and love almost all sweets

2) Both ice creams and candy are at the top of my fave list

3) My favorite ice cream flavor is Dulce De Leche from Haagan daz, if you have not tried this you should, this icecream tastes delicious....

4) I love long long walks on cool evenings....this also helps in burning off the calories IF I happen to indulge in the above treats :)

5) I read a lot and all the time...there have been times when I have been in the kitchen stirring something in a pot with a book in one hand

6) I love music and like to wake up to it rather than to a traditional alarm

7) I never expected that doing this tag would be this simple...had I known I may not have put it off for so long :)

I would in turn like to tag Mahimaa , Divya , Laavanya , Sagari , Ramya , Suma and Raaji

Related Recipes
Simple and quick Rasmalai